Ed Dibbles ...Yacon syrup

[manicscousers]

Ed dibbles, we had to dig up some of your yacon as we had to put some muck on the bed. Had a great harvest so far, thank you. You mentioned you had made some syrup from them to sweeten stuff that is ok for diabetics and I wondered how to go about it. Could you put it on here for me. Also firkled a few oca to try, we roasted them and they were great , thank you again 

[manicscousers]

[gwynleg]

OOh - very interested in this. How did you know when to harvest? Thought they were meant to grow to 6 feet? Mine only about 3 to 4 and just beginning to flower - is that right? What sort of harvest can I expect? Look forward to hearing how to make the syrup too

[manicscousers]

This one was only 4' high, we got about 3lb from it, a few good sized ones, too. i think you lave them until frost. The other one is about 5' and only just flowering so maybe more on that one 

[squeezyjohn]

It's my first year growing Yacon ... I've got about 20 plants all 6 foot or over and also just beginning to flower.

My thoughts were to leave them as late as possible - probably after all the foliage has died back to swell the tubers as much as possible.  But I have no idea about this and I'm scared of the process to get the growing tips saved for next year - as well as the possibility of harvesting too early.

Syrup aside ... what's the main use of these tubers?  I was kind of hoping for a winter crunchy fruit substitute that could possibly make it in to stir fries and the such like.

Cheers

Squeezy

[squeezyjohn]

Well prompted by this thread I had an exploratory dig of one of my plants to see what was happening underground.

What a yield!!!!

There are tubers down there that are bigger than most marrows I've ever grown.  They are very difficult to separate from the rhizomes to save for next year without snapping them - but it is doable with a little caution.

We tried eating them straight away and they are very watery indeed - not a huge amount of flavour but went very nicely in the stir fry last night and very good at absorbing the flavour.  I think I will try and make some syrup because if all the plants have made this much underground I am going to be completely inundated!

I have a couple of questions for more experienced growers out there ... should I wait longer to harvest - will they improve in flavour if I do?  Also I've seen that people say they get sweeter with storage - is it safe to store them in sacks like potatoes - and I have not yet managed to get a tuber without snapping it a bit  - will they dry off on the edges and still store well if this has happened?

And can you use it for any other recipe apart from salads, stir-fries and syrup?  This is something of an unexpected glut!

[manicscousers]

We're leaving ours until the leaves go, Ed sent instructions with them and said that was the best time to take them up. We roasted some and they were fine, nothing to write home about but ok. The boiled ones were watery. I'm pleased to see you think they will be better with storage, we'll store them and see 

[galina]

Syrup aside ... what's the main use of these tubers?  I was kind of hoping for a winter crunchy fruit substitute that could possibly make it in to stir fries and the such like.

Mine this year again have no flowers, but I'm not worried about that anymore because last year's yield was fine without.  I am leaving mine a bit longer and will probably fleece again like last year.  I took the stem in whole, detached the tubers.  Left the different looking nobbly bits at the top, cut the top of the stem (leaves were gone at that stage) and left them in a plastic bag in the conservatory over winter.  In early spring I detached (with knife) the little top tubers and pre-sprouted in pots before they went out.  The big tubers tasted a little radish-ey at first, later more like an apple.  Some people say they get as sweet as melon, mine didn't, but a very nice crunchy/fruity salad ingredient all the same.  Haven't cooked with them or made syrup.

I think the tubers are impossible to detach without a little 'wound', but I stored them in the conservatory out of direct sunlight and they didn't rot.  Probably not the best place, because they started shrivelling and needed eating fast and didn't store for as long as I had hoped.